


Who Am I to You?

by hosiecrumbs



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 12:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17981342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hosiecrumbs/pseuds/hosiecrumbs
Summary: “I have one more question,” Hope whispered as she broke the hug. She opened the letter that she was still holding and said, “you said here that you strive to please me with stories, songs, and kisses. Where’s my kisses?”A smile tugged on Josie’s lips.orJosie Saltzman has an unrequited crush on Hope Mikaelson. So she sent her a note.An alternative universe where Josie did not burn the letter she made for Hope when she was 13.





	Who Am I to You?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi you! 
> 
> PROMPT: Do one about if josie hadn’t set hope’s room on fire and found the note plz
> 
> This fic is dedicated to @izzy-wo5104 on tumblr.

It was unrequited. Josie’s crush for her tribrid classmate was unrequited. Hope Marshall -- Hope Mikaelson, as it was now revealed, was the subject of Josie’s current infatuation. Hope was special. Josie knew she was special the first time she laid her eyes on her when she was only six years old. Back then, however, she didn’t realize that it was a crush. She and her twin sister, Lizzie, was so enamored with the red-haired witch to the point that they wanted to be her friend so bad. Hope was brilliant in all their classes together, a very talented artist, eminently sophisticated, remarkably powerful… and really _really_ pretty.

 

Josie wanted to do everything to be close to her. She was smitten.

 

But Hope Mikaelson was so closed off. Josie’s dad made them understand that people wanted her dead even before the day she was born, that she had been through a lot. Some might even say that she was the spawn of the devil himself. Hope was so anxious when it was revealed that she was a Mikaelson, the one and only daughter of the Original hybrid. She was the child of the Great Evil, she was Klaus Mikaelson’s legacy and that gave her a reputation. She’s a tribrid, the only one of her kind. She was so powerful that her classmates either feared her or wanted to be her.

 

So Hope built her walls so high. After being used and lied to by Roman, Hope would never risk being anyone’s friend again.

 

Yet, Josie fell for her. Bad.

 

“Hey Josie, are you still listening to me?” Hope snapped her fingers in front of Josie to get her attention. They were in class. The teacher gave them the whole period to work on the project they got paired up for. This project was actually Josie’s chance to be close to her and she’s ruining that advantage by not paying attention. Hope was saying something and she was, once again, just looking at how the other girl’s lips move with every word.

 

“Josie --”

 

”Huh,” Josie said. “I’m sorry what was that again?”

 

Hope gave her an amused look. Josie felt butterflies in her stomach. “I asked you what you wanted to write for this project. You do realize that we only have forty-five minutes left to do this, do you?”

 

Well, Josie was not exactly listening. It was hard to listen to anything when bewitching blue eyes was all she could think about and red lips. And that god-damn smirk; _oh my heart please stop beating so fast,_ Josie thought _._ “Uhm…”

 

“You don’t know what we’re going to do, do you?” Hope chuckled.

 

“I wasn’t really paying attention in class. I’m sorry,” she replied softly. Hope was just so distracting - in a good way.

 

“Okay, here.” Hope turned her notebook to Josie so that Josie could read her notes as she explained. “The exercise requires us to do a short creative essay that would convey deep emotions while revolving around a metaphor or a theme.”

 

Josie nods her head in understanding, showing Hope that she paid attention this time. “What do you want to write then?”

 

“That was actually what I was asking you earlier. What do you want to do?”

 

”I’m actually okay with anything that you want to do.” Josie looked up from the notebook. She grabbed her bag to get a paper and pen. “I’ll write it down on paper.”

 

Hope looked around the room, looking for anything that would spark any ideas. “We could write about the school?”

 

It was Josie’s turn to give her an amused smile. “You know, for someone who has paintings up and down the hallways of this school, you lack creativity.”

 

Hope’s eyes snapped back at her and gave her a shy smile. The pink tint was evident on her cheeks. _She’s blushing! She’s so adorable._ “Yeah, well… I mean,” Hope stuttered as she was not used to receiving compliments. “There are only three of my paintings on the wall, Josie. You sound like I painted everything in this school. They are not even that great.”

 

“All those three are beautiful, Hope.” Josie’s eyes widened when she realized that she said that thought out loud.

 

Hope coughed, trying to cover up her blushing at what Josie said. “Thank you.”

 

“I have an idea!” Josie's eyes sparkled in excitement. She positioned her pen, getting ready to write as she asked Hope, “what was your favorite painting?”

 

The tribrid raised her eyebrows in question. “Come on, Hope, humor me.”

 

Hope tried to think before she said, “I guess it could be the castle painting in the cafeteria.” Hope stared at Josie as she wrote down the word castle. “I’m really not good with words,” Hope confessed slowly. “Creative writing isn't for me. So whatever it is you’re planning, it better be good because I may not be a big help.”

 

“That’s okay,” Josie hummed. “Writing is kind of my thing. I just need you to tell me how you felt about the painting.”

 

“Felt about it?”

 

“Well, yeah. What sparked you into painting that masterpiece?”

 

Hope looked down at her hands. “It’s kind of personal, actually.”

 

“I’m sorry, I --” Josie placed her pen down. She adjusted her sitting position to really look at the girl beside her. “We can write something else if you don’t want to share.”

 

The other witch was actually touched. Usually, when people asked her questions like that, they would push for an answer. It would annoy Hope so much. But with Josie, it was different, it felt different. She didn’t pry. Hope knew she was curious. The brunette’s facial expression was like an open book, yet, here she was offering to write something else because it made Hope uncomfortable. Maybe, maybe this one is worth the shot.  

 

“No, no, it’s actually okay,” Hope started. “I painted that because my dad used to always call me a princess. It reminds me of him. He used to say that he was a king, and I was his heir, the rightful owner to the throne. But then he was gone, you know. And I got lost…”

 

Josie’s heart melted as she listened to Hope. She wanted to reach for the other girl’s hand, give her comfort but she didn’t. When Hope was done telling Josie her story, the latter began to write. Emotions swirled around her chest and inspiration was drawn from the tribrid next to her.

 

* * *

 

“Where have you been all day,” Lizzie asked Josie when the brunette witch entered their shared room. Lizzie was already in her pajamas, getting ready for bed. “I didn’t see you at dinner. I had to sit down with MG the whole time! He was so talkative, I thought my ears were going to bleed.”

 

“I -- “ She hesitated telling her sister. “I, um… I was out with Hope Mikaelson after class. We hangout.”

 

Lizzie raised an eyebrow in question. “Hope Mikaelson? Since when do you hangout with her?”

 

“Just now, really. We were partnered in literature earlier.”

 

“Yeah well,” Lizzie said as she pouted. “Next time you hangout with her after class, tell me. I want to join too.”

 

* * *

 

Josie cannot sleep. She kept replaying her day with Hope in her head. Every smile and every laugh, every conversation they had. Josie sighed. It started with curiosity but now she was really falling for the girl. Her hand itched to write her feelings down. So looking at Lizzie’s sleeping form on the other bed, she stood up and walked to her bag on the desk in their room. She opened her study lamp, grabbed a piece of paper, and a pen.

 

And she wrote.

 

She wrote her feelings down and vowed to herself that tomorrow, she would slip it under Hope’s door. Her feelings for the other girl is too much and she just wanted to share it to her.

 

A part of her hope that maybe, just maybe, this note she was writing would spark something in Hope that would make her see Josie in a different, non-platonic light.

 

Because she was in ocean deep feelings for Hope Mikaelson and she would risk anything to make the tribid hers.

 

* * *

  
There was only one thought in Hope Mikaelson’s head while she was jogging around campus the next morning.

 

Josie.

 

There were only a few times where Hope was truly happy when she was at school. With hiding her true identity, she usually pushed people away so that she would be left alone. Lying would be so much easier if she had no friends. But Josie Saltzman was different.

 

When she was seven, it was clear that the twins wanted to be her friend. Hope thought that it was there dad’s doing, making them make friends with her. Yet, after a series of poking to push them away, Lizzie gave up trying. However, Josie never did. Josie never gave up on making their friendship work.

 

Sure, they were not really best friends but Hope knew that she could count on the girl when she needed her the most. She was still restricted though. She did not want to get too attached. So their friendship where basically just exchanges of ‘good mornings’ or ‘good nights’ whenever they pass around each other in the hallways. Josie would usually sit beside her in class when they have classes together, but they will never speak. Maybe a few ‘did you get how that was done?’ in math and magic classes, but it was never a full-on conversation.

 

Until yesterday happened.

 

Hope was surprised with herself when she started opening up to the girl. It was easy, it felt easy. She cannot get her head to stop thinking about warm brown eyes looking at her with so much awe when she was sharing her story. She never felt at ease to open up with someone, not even with Roman.

 

Josie was really something else.

 

Maybe she could see herself friends with the brunette witch.

 

After jogging, she went to her dorm to have a quick shower before breakfast. When she opened her bedroom door, though, she noticed a folded piece of paper lying on the ground. She looked around to see if she could still catch who left it there, but there was no one.

 

Picking the letter up, she noticed that there her name written on it. **_Hope._** She smiled. She recognized that penmanship immediately since she spent the whole afternoon with the writer yesterday.

 

She opened the letter and she began to feel nervous.

_I hate you_ **_  
_ ** _for you have my heart_

_in total surrender_

_and I can’t do anything about it_

_I hate you_

_for you have me smiling_

_in total brightness_

_and I can’t do anything about it either_

_You have that skill_

_to keep me happy_

_through the mundane_

_oh, such dark busy days_

_You have that skill_

_to produce butterflies_

_through simple touches and whispers_

_from your delicate hands and lips_

_But who am I to you?_

_Still, I strive_

_to please you_

_with wit, intelligence, cleverness_

_with stories, songs, and kisses_

_For weeks now_

_you have my undivided attention_

_and for weeks now_

_your second glance, my impertinent desire_

_But who am I to you?_

_You have no idea_

_how long I’ve been here_

_standing to take note_

_of your little quirks and the things that made you tick_

_Everyday I am giddy_

_at your tender ‘Hi’s and ‘Hello’s_

_And everyday I am at awe_

_on how sweetly the light of dawn_

_will kiss your skin_

_But really who am I to you?_

_You were a part of the great world_

_everyone would speak of_

_and I am no one_

_just someone who watched you with much longing_

Okay, scratch that. Maybe she could see herself with some like the brunette witch. No. Maybe she could see herself with no one but Josie Saltzman.

 

* * *

 

“Why the heck do you look so nervous, Josie?” MG sat down in front of Lizzie and Josie at the dining hall. Josie looked unsettled. She was constantly rubbing her hands on her skirt and looking around the hall as if trying to find someone.

 

“Nothing,” she squeaked. _Why am I so nervous? I didn’t even write my name. She could not know it was from me, was it?_

 

“Yeah, right,” Lizzie said. “You’re all over the place this morning. You even had your shirt on backward.” It was true. Josie’s mind was jumping, she didn’t even bother to look at what she was wearing or how she was wearing it.

 

She regretted slipping her poem in Hope’s dorm room AFTER slipping it in with no way of getting it back. She didn’t know any spell that would make the note fly back to her hands and she did consider setting it on fire but that’s just too risky.

 

MG raised his eyebrows at Lizzie. “Is there a test I should be worried about?”

 

“No, none,” the blonde replied. “She’s just like that because she spent the whole afternoon with Hope. She’s probably nervous to see her crush this morning.”

 

That made Josie look at her sister. “I don’t have a crush on Hope.”

 

Lizzie snorted, MG grinned. “Yeah, sure sister,” Lizzie said as she rolled her eyes at Josie. “You’ve been obsessing with her since we were like six! I don’t even know why you wanted to be her friend _that_ bad until it clicked.”

 

“You do always talk about her too,” MG supplied.

 

Josie blushed. “I do not! Do I?”

 

Both MG and Lizzie looked at each other and laughed. “DO YOU?” Lizzie can’t anymore. “There’s no day where you don’t wonder where she is, or what she’s thinking, or how blue her eyes could be at this moment.”

 

“You follow her around like a lost puppy, too, you know.”

 

“I do not, MG!”

 

“Yes you do,” MG smirked at her, there was a glint in his eyes. “Remember when you skipped breakfast with us on YOUR birthday so you could watch her train with your dad by the lake?”

 

“I,” Josie stuttered. She never thought she was obvious. “I wanted to spend my birthday morning with my dad.”

 

“Remember when I asked you to sit by me in history class but the moment you saw an empty chair beside her, you have forgotten about me?”

 

“I never thought it would bother you that much, Lizzie.” Josie sighed.

 

“We always sit together in class!”

 

“Except when Hope was there too,” MG said.

 

“Oh, oh!” Lizzie raised her hand in the air as if getting a great idea. “That’s why you’re always playing that song!” She looked at MG and asked, “What was that song again?”

 

“Hope”, MG snickered. Lizzie started laughing again. “Hope by the Chainsmokers.”

 

“ _That wasn’t love, that wasn’t love, that was just hope,”_ Lizzie mockingly sang as she and MG can’t stop laughing.

 

Josie sighed. This was why she did not want Lizzie to find out. She’ll make fun of her. “I didn’t know I was that obvious with my crush on Hope.”

 

“You have a crush on me?”

 

 _Shit._ Both MG and Lizzie stopped laughing and looked at the girl behind Josie. “Oh my god,” the brunette whispered. She slowly turned around to see the tribrid smirking at her, humor was gleaming in her eyes.

 

Hope was holding her note. Josie heart started beating faster. “I—” Josie looked at Lizzie and MG for help, but they were grinning at their food like idiots. She was alone in this.

 

“I actually wanted to talk to you,” Hope softly said. “Do you want to walk with me?”

 

“Sure.”

 

* * *

 

They were walking by the lake in silence for ten minutes when Hope broke the silence. “Josie, I--”

 

 _This was rejection,_ Josie thought. She stopped walking and so did the tribrid. She faced her and said, “I’m sorry, Hope. If it made you uncomfortable. I just… I just wanted to let you know how I was feeling about you. You don’t really have to reciprocate anything. I mean,” Josie started rambling. “I know it’s unrequited. You’re really out of my league and I just, I still want to be your friend, y’know. Now, I ruined that chance. Just-- please just forget I even wrote that. I don’t want awkwardness between us. I just –“

 

“Josie!” Hope was smiling, her blue eyes light up in amusement. “You’re rambling.”

 

Josie blushed. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be,” Hope smirked. “It’s actually really cute.”

 

 _Wait, what?_ “What?”

 

“You’re my friend –” Hope stated but it only confused Josie more. “Well, you asked if who you are to me, right?”

 

Josie carefully nodded. _Friend._ She knew this was coming but it still hurt knowing that it was confirmed.

 

“You’re my friend –”

 

“I get that, Hope.”

“

No, let me finish,” Hope sighed. “You’re my friend but I actually want to try to see if it could be something more?” Now, it was the red-haired girl who was blushing.

 

“What, what?” Josie didn’t know how to feel. All possible emotions passed through her. “Say that again.”

 

“What,” Hope chuckled. “No way!”

 

“Please?”

 

Hope grinned at her. “I said, I wanted us to be something more, Jo.”

 

Josie smiled like she never did before. Hope laughed softly, clearly nervous herself. “So, can we?”

 

Josie can’t believe it. Her feelings weren’t one-sided. It was reciprocated. So it was her turn to smirk at Hope. “Is this your attempt on asking me to be your girlfriend, Hope?”

 

Hope was amused. Josie was just so adorable. “Yes, Josie. It is. So?”

 

“Yes,” Josie was gleaming. Her heart was so full. “Yes, of course. Yes.” Josie hugged Hope and Hope immediately hugged her back. They fit together like perfect puzzle pieces.

 

“I have one more question,” Hope whispered as she broke the hug. She opened the letter that she was still holding and said, “you said here that you strive to please me with stories, songs, and kisses. Where're my kisses?”

 

A smile tugged on Josie’s lips. She softly placed her hand on Hope’s cheek and Hope leaned into it. “Here,” she quietly said before leaning in, their lips meeting in the middle, resulting in a gentle and tender kiss.

 

Hope pulled away slowly and looked at the other girl. Her face becoming more serious as blue eyes looked at brown.

 

Josie’s eyebrows furrowed, looking at Hope with curiosity. “What?”

 

“You really had a crush on me?” Hope smirked.

 

Josie giggled and pulled the girl into another kiss before resting their foreheads together. “You’re an idiot,” Josie’s voice was so soft, and Hope can’t deny the butterflies building in her stomach. “Of course I did. Who wouldn’t?”

 

Hope tucked a piece of Josie’s hair behind her ear and for the third time, their lips met again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked it! The poem was actually an original of mine. I am glad I can finally make use of it. 
> 
> Leave me a message will you?? Thank you.


End file.
